


Children of the Cosmos

by ninawritesastory



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)
Genre: Rapunzel was raised by Varian's parents, Siblings AU, and so are Kiera and Catalina, but I'm taking liberties and there will be deviations, but these guys are more of the main focus, pretty much everyone, technically follows the plot of the movie and show
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:35:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23303263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ninawritesastory/pseuds/ninawritesastory
Summary: Thirteen years after a twist of fate delivered Rapunzel into the care of Quirin and Rowena, a sudden illness sets off the biggest adventure of her life.
Relationships: Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider/Rapunzel, Rapunzel & Varian & Angry|Kiera & Red|Catalina, Rapunzel & Varian (Disney)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 77





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Happy (fanon) birthday to our favorite alchemist! And welcome to my siblings AU! Which I'm also posting on my tumblr (themisadventuresofmomtiri, if you're curious), and where you will also find the first half of the second chapter. I'll be posting the second chapter in its entirety sometime this week, depending on whether or not the COVID-19 outbreak throws us anymore curveballs. 
> 
> I hope this start to my siblings AU is able to off you a bit of enjoyment in these troubling times!

_This…is the story of how I died._

_Oh, don’t worry, this is actually a really fun story---and truth be told, it isn’t even mine. No, this is the story of a brother and sister, and it begins with the sun and the moon._

_You see, a long, long, long time ago, the fell from the heavens two drops of pure light: one from the sun, and one from the moon. The drop of sunlight struck the earth and grew into a magic golden flower, which could heal the sick and injured. The drop of moonlight, on the other hand, transformed into a glowing blue stone, which was said to inflict madness on anyone unlucky enough to come across it._

_Well, centuries pass and there eventually came to be a kingdom that was ruled by a beloved king and queen. And the queen, well, she was about to have a baby. But then she got sick. Really sick. She was running out of time, and that’s when people usually start looking for a miracle---or, in this case, a magic golden flower. Now, for centuries this flower was kept hidden by a woman named Gothel, who wanted to keep the flower’s magical abilities all to herself. She could make the flower release enough of its magic to restore her youth and beauty by singing a special song. The people of Corona were able to locate this flower, despite Gothel’s attempts to keep it hidden, and got it to the queen just in time. The magic was able to heal the queen, and she soon gave birth to a healthy baby girl, a princess with beautiful golden hair._

_In celebration of her birth, the king and queen launched a flying lantern into the sky. And for a moment, everything was perfect._

_And then that moment ended. You see, Gothel wasn’t going to give up her magic flower that easily. One night, she broke into the castle and stole the baby princess. The kingdom searched and searched, but could find no trace of Gothel or their stolen princess. Deep within the forest, however, Gothel set about raising Rapunzel as her own. And for four years, that was it. Gothel had her new magic flower, and she was determined to keep it hidden._

_But…then Gothel got greedy. Well, even greedier than usual._

_You see, the princess wasn’t the only child born with magic. Remember that drop of moonlight I mentioned earlier? Well, the stone had disappeared, but turns out the Moon is just a little more involved with things than the Sun. Nearly four years after Gothel stole the princess, a child with glowing white hair was born to an…odd couple, to say the least: a former knight from a fallen kingdom, and a Fae woman. Well, a few months passed, and Gothel spotted the new mother and child in a market not too far from Corona’s border. Gothel figured out that the white-haired infant had the Moon’s magic, and decided she wanted both the Sun and the Moon’s magic for herself._

_That night, during a new moon, Gothel slipped into the couple’s wagon and managed to steal the child without waking them. She fled their camp and returned to the tower in which she kept Rapunzel. But Gothel underestimated the child’s parents, and they managed to track her down within a matter of hours. There was a brief fight, but Gothel lost, falling to her doom from the tower window. The baby was reunited with his parents without ever knowing he’d been separated from them._

_However, Quirin and Rowena were not prepared to learn that there was a child already under Gothel’s care: Rapunzel, with her magic golden hair. Unwilling to abandon such a young child, Quirin and Rowena decided to take her in, giving her a family and a home and all the love a child could ever want. For the next fourteen years, Rapunzel traveled the land with her new family. She was a loving daughter, a devoted older sister, and a wonderful friend to all those she met during her adventures._

_But destiny has a way of catching up with people, and Corona never gave up hope that, one day, their lost princess would find her way home._

* * *

The day starts out particularly beautiful, whether out of spite or in apology Rapunzel will never be able to say. But when she wakes up that morning, the sun is bright and clear in the sky. There isn’t so much as a wisp of cloud in the sky, and the birds are singing while flitting from tree branch to lush tree branch. The temperature is lovely, just the right blend of warm and cool. Everything is alive and reveling in it. For the first few hours, everything is as perfect as it’s ever been.

“Rapunzel, sweetheart, help me hang up the wash.”

“Be right there, Mom!”

Rapunzel waves her hand over her latest journal entry in an effort to get the inks to dry faster. Up until yesterday, she hasn’t had much of chance to keep it up, and she and Kiera had had quite the adventure in Riverain. (A misunderstanding with a vegetable vendor that had spiraled out of control, but nothing Rapunzel couldn’t handle. Still, best not to tell Mom and Dad and worry them over nothing.)

Their campsite is set up at the edge of a small meadow surrounded on all sides by a forest. The place is rife with fairy rings, which might explain why ordinary travelers and locals tend to stay as far away from it as possible. Rapunzel has never feared a fairy ring in her life, having been raised by a Fae. Rowena may have given up her horns and wings, but she’d kept her magic and knowledge of the Fae world. As long as she stayed out of the rings and within sight of camp, Rapunzel had nothing to fear. No Fae was dumb enough to steal another Fae’s child from under their nose.

Her mother was waiting for her with a length of string danging from her outstretched finger.

“Fancy a morning climb, my dear?”

A confident smile crossed Rapunzel’s face as she undid her barrette. “Sure do!”

She tossed her hair up and secured it to the tree limb, taking the laundry line as soon as she determined her hair would hold. Seventy feet of hair was a lot to handle, but it certainly did make things like this much easier. The rough bark of the tree bit into her feet; it had been a while since she’d been able to go barefoot, since Mom and Dad refused to let her do so in winter.

“Make sure to tie it tight,” Mom called from the ground.

Rapunzel rolled her eyes. “Shall I do eight knots this time, Mother?”

“Don’t sass me, young lady,” Mom warned, though her words had no venom to them. “Two will do just fine, so long as it’s tight.”

After giving the line a few quick tugs to make sure it was secured, Rapunzel scaled her way back to the ground, releasing her hair and beginning the arduous task of wrangling it back into just enough order to keep it out of her way as she worked. Mom and Dad had spent a small fortune on barrettes over the years, and Rapunzel had quite the collection in her jewelry box. Well, a good number of them usually were at work in her hair, of course.

“You girls have enough pins,” Dad asked, stoking the small campfire to get it ready for cooking breakfast. Catalina was with him, which calmed the instinctive rise of panic in Rapunzel’s throat; Dad was good at a lot of things, but cooking wasn’t really one of them. Catalina knew enough to mitigate the damage until Rapunzel could take over.

“I’m sure we have enough,” Mom replied. “Though if _someone_ hadn’t insisted on trudging through three feet of mud for twice as many miles, we’d certainly have plenty.”

“No good place to sleep on that stretch,” he pointed out with a small laugh. “And you’re one to talk; you and Varian alone made up at least half of that.”

“I’m still at least two washes away from getting that phosphorus stain out of my blouse,” Mom bemoaned.

That stain had been made after Rapunzel had sung her song near the flask of phosphorus Mom had acquired, the glow of her hair turning the yellow phosphorus red and accidentally ruining the purification experiment Mom and Varian had been working on. Catalina had accidentally knocked the ruined flask onto Mom during last month’s full moon, and she’d spent the last month trying to scrub the stuff out of her (former) favorite shirt.

“Maybe you should just give up on it and get a new one,” Kiera chimed in, hopping down from the wagon door and stretching out her sleep-stiff limbs.

“Waste not, want not,” Mom replied, before focusing her attention on Rapunzel. “Go help Catalina make sure your father doesn’t burn breakfast. I’ll finish up here.”

Rapunzel grinned. “Okay, Mom.”

“Oh, and send one of the girls in to check on Varian,” she added. “I managed to get him to bed at a less unholy hour, but he might still sleep through breakfast if we don’t wake him.”

The full moon had just occurred two days ago, which meant that Varian was in the downward swing of his energy cycle. He’d lose more and more energy over the next week or two, sleeping more and more until the new moon hit. The constant flux meant they all tried to keep Varian on a semi-normal sleeping schedule. When she and Varian were little, Mom and Dad had taken to sleeping with their arms over the both of them. They were both light sleepers, able to go from asleep to alert scarily quickly, so if either of them tried to stay up past bedtime, Mom and Dad would know.

Of course, they’d gotten a bit too big for that now, and Varian was starting to develop as an alchemist in his own right.

“Will do,” she promised, leaving her mother to finish hanging up the morning wash.

While they were all able to cook at some level, Dad had been a knight (or training to become one) ever since he was a kid. Which meant that his cooking skills, while great in a pinch, were…not exactly at the level that produced the sort of food people who had options would choose to eat. Mom swore that he’d gotten much better at cooking since they first began courting, but honestly that didn’t paint the most favorable picture of Dad’s initial skills in the area.

“So,” Rapunzel chirped, dropping down next to her sister. “What do we want to eat?”

“We’ve got some eggs that Kiera and I got yesterday,” Catalina offered, holding up a small basket with a small variety of eggs. “We only took one egg from each nest we found,” she added.

“Unless the bird was rude,” Kiera retorted. “Then I took two.”

“You shouldn’t do that,” Quirin chided. “Your mother and I put that rule in place for a reason.”

“Sorry, Dad.”

Kiera at least had the good grace to look a bit sheepish. But that was the trouble with having a Fae for a mom: if you didn’t behave while out in the woods, there really would be a little bird singing the whole story right into her ear. Most birds didn’t mind the loss of a single egg---most clutches usually rendered at least one dud, and they’d gotten very good at determining which ones those would be---but some were a bit more particular than others, and you never knew which type the bird in question would be.

With eggs, some left over ham, and a quick bit of Dad’s magic to gather up some shallots, breakfast was well handled.

“Hey, it’s gonna be your birthday in a couple months,” Kiera mentioned. “D’ya know what you want yet?”

“Rapunzel…”

“I know,” she quickly cut in. “I know! But I won’t even ask for the whole day. Just a few hours. What I _really_ want to see is when they set the lanterns off. Please? Everyone who’s seen them says it’s amazing, and I really want to see them in person!”

Quirin sighed. “Your mother and I have been checking into it,” he admitted. “If the anti-magic laws have lessened enough that we think it’s safe, then I think we might be able to risk half a day.”

Rapunzel shrieked, jumping up to give him a massive hug.

“Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“What is she thanking you for, my heart,” Rowena asked, returning to the fire pit with an empty basket on her hip.

“Dad said we might be able to go to Corona for their lantern festival,” Catalina explained, and Rowena nodded.

“ _Only_ if we determine that it’s safe enough,” she reminded them. “Luckily, your birthday falls right in the middle of the lunar cycle this year. Speaking off, would one of you be so willing as to go wake your brother? Judging by the smell, breakfast is about ready.”

“I’ll do it!”

“No pranks, Kiera,” Rowena warned as the girl jumped up from her seat and rushed back to the wagon. “Now,” she added, returning her attention to those remaining, “ _if_ we decide that it’s safe to travel to Corona this year, we’ll be setting a few ground rules.”

“Of course,” Rapunzel readily agreed. “No wandering off, no drawing attention, and be back to the wagon on time.”

“We may take some extra precautions,” Quirin clarified. “But yes, those will still be in effect.”

“Uh, Mom? Dad?”

Kiera stood in the door of the wagon, looking very uneasy.

“I think something’s wrong with Varian.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go, the next chapter! ~~And no, I totally didn't forget about Pascal until the last minute, what are you talking about?!~~
> 
> Also, I know that, with everything going on in the real world, the content of this chapter might be a little...triggering, since Varian is very much sick in this chapter. So if the current world health crisis has become a source of anxiety and you'd rather not read about your fave getting very, very sick, feel free to message me either here or on my tumblr (themisadventuresofmomtiri.tumblr.com) and I will be more than happy to give you a rundown on any plot-relevant points you might miss. 
> 
> The next chapter should be a little lighter, though!

It took a second for the words to sink in before Rowena and Quirin bolted for the wagon door. Kiera jumped off the steps, making way for them to enter. The thee sisters shared a look before running in after their parents.

Literally nothing had changed about the interior of the wagon since Rapunzel had left it merely an hour ago, but somehow the air felt more oppressive, thick with a tension that was ready to snap at any moment. Ruddiger chittered, wringing his little hands nervously as Rowena and Quirin reached their son’s side.

“He’s burning up,” she said, worry thick in her voice.

“Rapunzel, can’t you heal him,” Catalina asked, voice barely above a whisper.

If it were Dad or Kiera, Rapunzel wouldn’t hesitate. She’d managed to successfully heal them from colds and other ills in the past. Kiera always came down with a cold at least once a winter, and Catalina usually got sick for a week or two come spring and fall if she spent time outside--- for some reason, Rapunzel’s healing magic was only ever a short-term fix for Catalina. Mom’s working theory was that it was the pollen in the air making her miserable, and it wasn’t like Rapunzel could cleanse the air of the little irritants, so Catalina had taken to spending most of the fall and spring in the wagon until Mom could get a hold of the ingredients needed to make the only medicine that seemed to offer her any relief. Dad would get sick sometimes, though it was rare and tended to come after Kiera recovered from her cold if it came at all. Mom never got sick, but that was probably because she wasn’t human so mortal ills likely didn’t affect her.

Varian and Rapunzel, however, had never caught so much as a sniffle in their lives.

And unlike Kiera and Catalina, Varian had a _lot_ of magic. Rapunzel had been able to handle cuts and scraps in the past, but it took a lot of effort and Varian needed to be able to help her out.

Instead of answering, Rapunzel swallowed hard and stepped forward. She undid her barrettes, letting her golden hair fall loose around her shoulders. 

“Mom? Dad? Do you think maybe I could…” she trailed off, holding up a thick lock of her hair as a visual cue.

“Rapunzel, I don’t know if---”

“Row, we have to let her try,” Quirin cut in, somehow managing to keep his voice level.

“What if she gets sick, too,” Rowena worried. If there was an illness that could take Varian down, it wasn’t too much of a leap to think it might get Rapunzel, too.

“We have to try.”

Rowena bit her lip, but nodded, moving a bit to give Rapunzel room to join them.

Varian looked terrible. He was paler than usual, almost ashy, and it looked like he was soaked in sweat. Rapunzel radiated heat like the sun---a comparison Kiera had made _once_ and refused to let go of the second she realized the pun---and sure, six people sleeping in the same area meant for a lot of body heat (a godsend come the winter), but the nights were still fairly cold this time of year. There was no reason for Varian to be sweating so much. And his breathing…it was shallow and fast. He’d been perfectly _fine_ last night.

She carefully placed her hair around him, deciding not to wrap it around him because the idea of jostling him and accidentally doing more harm than good terrified her. With any luck, this would do the trick and Varian would be back to normal. Rapunzel took a deep breath and started singing.

 **_**“Flower, gleam and glow; let your power shine.”** _ ** ****

The faint tingle that was constantly humming under her skin grew stronger, concentrating in her scalp as it poured into her hair, the strands lighting up with the sun’s magic.

**_**“Make the clock reverse; bring back what once was---”** _ **

Rapunzel always sang with her eyes closed; when they were little, Varian had noticed and asked her why. When he’d convinced her to sing without closing her eyes, they discovered that her hair wasn’t the only thing that glowed. Which explained why her eyes always burned a little anytime she used her magic. But since her eyes were closed, Rapunzel wasn’t able to notice certain things.

She wasn’t able to notice Varian’s hair suddenly glowing the strongest it ever had outside of him using his magic during a full super moon. And, since it happened so fast, neither Quirin nor Rowena were able to warn her in time. The resulting surge of power sent her flying back wards, snapping her out of the healing trance. The glow disappeared as soon as Rapunzel stopped singing, which was probably for the best.

“Rapunzel!”

She held her head, wincing as she recovered from the shock. Dad’s callous-rough hand gripped her arm and slipped behind her back to help her regain her footing.

“I’m okay, I’m okay,” she assured. “Is Varian---” Rapunzel caught sight of her brother and sucked in a breath.

He was still glowing, but it was violent, wildly inconsistent, and he looked as if it were causing him pain. Mom pulled him up to her shoulder, holding him tight and muttering under her breath. The longer she murmured, the more the glowing began to slow and smooth out, until finally it was a dull pulsing sort.

“I’m sorry---”

“Rapunzel, you have nothing to be sorry about,” Rowena replied. “Quirin, get Rapunzel and Catalina outside now. Kiera, come and help me with your brother.”

“Mom, what’s wrong with Varian,” Catalina asked, putting up a token fight as Quirin ushered them both towards the door.

“Just stay with your father,” Rowena ordered.

* * *

Kiera stumbled out of the wagon nearly an hour later, trembling from a combination of shock and the effort it took to not completely fall to pieces.

“Mom said she needs you,” she said, voice wavering a little.

“Go sit and get something to eat,” Quirin told her, giving her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. Kiera just nodded, moving forward to join her sisters at the fire pit.

“How is he,” Rapunzel asked.

“He’s…not good. Mom doesn’t think it’s catchy, but…I know there’s more to it than that and she just didn’t tell me.”

Kiera dropped onto the ground, propped up against the log they’d commandeered for a bench when they first set up camp and next to where Catalina was seated. The redhead gently patted her sister’s head, setting up a soft stroking motion that had been known to soothe Kiera when she got agitated.

“I don’t get it,” she continued, curling up into Catalina’s touch. “He was just fine yesterday!”

“Maybe he wasn’t,” Catalina pointed out. “After all, the full moon was only a couple of days ago. If something was wrong, it probably wouldn’t have shown up until that extra energy started to go away. Remember two years ago after the winter solstice? Varian had to stay in bed for a whole week because he got that concussion and didn’t notice until after the full moon wore off.”

“Yeah, but he still _woke up_ ,” Kiera retorted. “I couldn’t even get him to _twitch_.”

There was a vulnerability in her voice that Kiera rarely ever let show. She’d always been the sort of person who liked to put up a strong and independent front, unfazed by anything and ready for everything. But underneath all the bluff and bluster, she was still just a kid. Her nineth birthday was still months away. And she’d already lost her family once; no doubt the idea of Varian being so sick terrified the heck out of her.

“Varian is going to be just fine,” Rapunzel assured her, joining her on the grass and putting an arm around her. “You’ll see. He’ll beat this bug and be right back to his old self in no time.”

“What if he doesn’t get better before the new moon gets here,” Kiera murmured. “New moons have been making him weaker lately. He acts like they don’t, but I’m not stupid.”

Rapunzel winced. The constant shifts in his energy levels _had_ been hitting him harder than they used to, but Mom had said that was likely just a side-effect of Varian entering puberty and that it should stabilize as he got older. Not that the assurance made it any less worrying at this point. Before she could think of any platitudes to offer, the sound of the wagon creaking caught their attention, and the girls turned to see their parents stepping out into the daylight.

“Is he okay,” Rapunzel asked, immediately standing back up.

“For the moment, he’s about as okay as can be expected,” Rowena replied, sounding absolutely exhausted. “We’ll have to keep an eye on his condition, but things seem to have calmed for a bit.”

“Do you know what’s wrong?”

“Whatever he’s managed to catch, it’s interacting with the Moon’s power.” Rowena took a seat on the log, undoing her bun in order to tidy it back up. “Whether it’s for better or worse, I can’t say just yet. That being said, considering the reaction we witnessed, Rapunzel, I want you to keep your distance until I can figure out exactly what’s going on. Hopefully, this is just an aggressive illness that’s as short-lived as a cold.”

“And if it’s not,” Catalina asked, voice small and quiet.

Rowena took a deep breath. “If it’s not…well, we may have to bind his magic.” 

“You can do that,” Kiera asked, eyes wide.

“Only as a last resort,” Quirin replied.

“But if it could help him---”

“It’s dangerous,” Rowena cut in. “Binding another’s magic is a very delicate process, and it can easily go wrong. It’s not something that should be done lightly. There’s still a chance Varian could recover on his own.”

“So we’re going to wait,” Quirin finished. “We’ll be keeping a close eye on him, but we’re hoping he can pull through without us needing to intervene.”

“In the meantime, I want to check the three of you over,” Rowena added. “Especially you, Rapunzel. I image a rebound like that must have hurt.”

“What? No, I’m fine,” she assured. “I mean, I kind of had a headache for a little bit, but it went away not too long after I came outside.”

“Still, best to get ahead of any potential problems than wait for them to manifest.” She offered Rapunzel a kind, but tired, smile and held out her hand. “Come on, we’ll head down to the river. Quirin, love, stay and keep an eye on things?”

“Okay,” Rapunzel agreed, sharing a look with Pascal as she stepped forward and took her mother’s hand.

The walk down to the river was silent, their minds all back in the wagon with Varian. The knowledge that, for now at least, he was doing as well as could be expected had bled some of the stress away, and Rapunzel could feel some lingering aches and pains. That explosion of power had been completely unexpected; her magic and Varian’s had never reacted that strongly or that negatively. Usually they would glow in response to the other whenever they sang their incantations---Rapunzel had probably had more fun that she should’ve hiding near Varian and quietly singing so as not to give away her position, trying not to laugh as Varian, hair and freckles glowing, tried to find her hiding spot---but that had been the extent of it. Their magics reacted to each other all the time, but it had never been violent or that…strong.

“Alright, we’ll start with Kiera, then I’ll look at you, Catalina. Rapunzel, you’ll go last because it will take longer to look you over,” Rowena declared, settling down onto the soft grass of the riverbank and motioning for Kiera to join her.

It wasn’t the first time Mom had used her own magic to make sure they were okay; they’d often get into more than their fair share of trouble, and sometimes that meant getting more than their fair share of bumps and bruises. Still, it was always a sight to see as Mom coaxed a portion of the river to her hands, and it was always a little odd when she then coaxed the water to surround them. Rapunzel didn’t fully understand how exactly the magic-guided water told Rowena exactly what was wrong, if anything, but she did know that different spots would light up to highlight a potential injury.

Kiera checked out okay, and so did Catalina. A bit rattled, of course, but it would be more concerning if they weren’t. Rowena sent them back to the camp before beckoning Rapunzel closer. Rapunzel sat down before her mother and worried a bit at her bottom lip.

“Deep, steady breaths, Sunbeam,” Rowena reminded her, voice gentle and calm as she lifted out a new chunk of water.

Rapunzel obeyed, straightening her back and closing her eyes. The water, which should still be freezing this time of year, felt pleasantly cool against her skin. It moved against her, and it almost felt like Rapunzel was swimming. Her scalp tingled---which shouldn’t happen, since she wasn’t using her magic, and her magic had never responded to the presence of water before. Varian’s did, which made sense because everyone knew the moon affected the tides. The sun didn’t, so her magic had never reacted to water. _Fire_ certainly, which had led to an interesting (in hindsight) afternoon when she was little. Rowena pulled the water away and returned it to the river.

“So, am I okay?”

“Yes,” Rowena replied, though the way she said it made it seem as though there were more to it. “Although, it would seem as if there was a slight transfer of magic between you and Varian.”

“Transfer?”

“Varian’s illness has destabilized his magic, and the Moon’s power was desperately seeking some sort of stabilizing force. When you tried to heal him, his magic latched onto yours. The resultant combination was too powerful, which triggered the explosion, but in the course of it all, a fragment of the Moon’s power was transferred to you. And a fragment of the Sun’s power was likely transferred to him, as well.”

“That’s a good thing, though, right,” Rapunzel asked. “The Sun’s power is all about healing the physical, so that means he should be able to get better on his own.”

“It’s not that simple, Rapunzel,” Rowena replied. “There is always a duality. Your magic can destroy just as easily as it can heal, just as Varian’s can. I never taught you the destructive incantations because you’re both so young; I had planned to teach you both on your eighteenth birthdays, but now…”

She pulled out the small dagger she kept on her at all times; the entire thing was made from the same piece of inky black stone, and the hilt was inlaid with silver in an interwoven design. At the top of the hilt was a crescent moon, inlaid with the same design as the hilt, glowing a luminous icy blue and swallowing a smaller blue circle. The stone glowed anytime Varian got close to it, but it had never really reacted to her before. Now though, the blade glowed the same vibrant blue as it did near Varian.

“Rapunzel, I need a small lock of your hair.”

“What? Why?”

“Just, trust me, please.”

Rapunzel bit her lip, but handed over a small piece of her hair. Rowena held the strands taunt, and placed her dagger beneath them. Rapunzel winced as Rowena made to sever the strands. When she opened her eyes, she gaped at the still intact lock of hair.

“How--?”

“Part of the Moon’s power involves indestructibility,” Rowena explained. “It’s a defense mechanism; the Sun is less concerned as it has the power to burn any who would seek to destroy it. The Moon is not quite so gifted, and so developed a different way to preserve itself. Since this is certainly a result of the transfer…that may mean Varian was given some of the Sun’s heat.”

“What does that mean?”

Rowena took a deep breath. “It means his magic may try to burn the sickness out of him, and that won’t turn out well for Varian.” 

* * *

The next few days were akin to torture. Varian didn’t seem to make any progress toward recovery, and since whatever it was that he caught seemed to interact with magic, Rapunzel and Catalina had been barred from reentering the wagon until further notice. Kiera stuck by them, whether out of solidarity or because she’d rather be ignorant of just how bad off their brother was, Rapunzel didn’t know and she wasn’t going to ask.

She busied herself with the camp’s upkeep, constantly fetching water or cooking food or doing laundry---anything she could think of to ward off her own spiraling thoughts and concerns. That fact that her hair was now apparently indestructible only concerned her when she thought of what that might mean for the fragment of the Sun’s power Varian had ended up with. He’d developed a fever, and Mom and Dad had been trying to contain it with constant applications of cloths soaked in cool water. The whole camp seemed to exist in an odd sort of limbo, and Rapunzel constantly felt like they were teetering dangerously on the edge of something.

On the third night, that feeling came to fruition.

Rapunzel and her sisters had bedded down for the night, enveloped in the sleeping sacks they’d made for the calm summer nights when they wanted to do some stargazing. Pascal was curled up next to her, a constant source of comfort throughout the whole ordeal.

“His fever’s getting worse,” Mom murmured, thinking they were all asleep. “I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this, but we’re running out of time.”

“You have what you need,” Dad asked, keeping his voice low.

“Yes. We should get to it now, while the girls are asleep.”

“Do you think this will work?”

“It has to,” Mom replied. “I don’t know what more we can do if it doesn’t.”

Fear coursed through Rapunzel as she heard her parents reenter the wagon. Once the door closed, Rapunzel squeezed her eyes shut and curled up into a ball. Pascal gently nuzzled against her cheek, and she prayed to whatever power would hear her that her brother would be okay come the morning.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not gonna lie, this chapter kind of fought me. I also kept procrastinating by writing scenes that won't come into play until much later in the story (and will probably have to be completely rewritten by the time I even get there). 
> 
> A couple of author's notes: I'm giving the Dark Kingdom an actual name, since no country in the history of Earth has ever used a name like that. I went through several options (all moon-based, of course), and settled on the one you see in this chapter. Also: the fae realm that we get sort-of introduced to is not actually named The Unknown. But it's actual name has no counterpart in human languages, so that's the best Rowena can come up with when talking about her former home. She (and I) will alternate between using The Unknown and The Glen when referring to the fae realm. There is a linguistic reasoning behind when she uses what title, and while it may be interesting from a linguistic/political/cultural standpoint, it really doesn't add anything extra to the story itself (at this point), so I'm not going to go into detail with it. If you're curious, send me a message through my tumblr (https://themisadventuresofmomtiri.tumblr.com/) and I would be happy to fill you in!
> 
> This chapter pretty much does it for the intro/exposition part of the story. Starting next chapter, we should be getting into more of the meat of the plot. (At the very least, we should be able to make it to the part where Eugene comes into play.) So that's something to look forward to! 
> 
> For now, enjoy this long-overdue update!

There is no lamp to give them light. The only light in the wagon is the irregular pulsing of Varian’s hair, faint and patchy and a far, far cry from its normal vibrancy. Thin threads of gold have started to appear, glowing and fading in uneven flickers. The magic he’d accidentally taken from Rapunzel was shining through, slowly burning him from the inside out.

Her child, her only son, is fading before her very eyes.

_Fae should never have children_.

“Rowena?”

She looks up, pulled out of her thoughts and grounded back in reality. Quirin is on the other side of the wagon, mere feet from her with only their fading son between them. She can see clearly how the last few days have aged him. Perhaps she shows it just as clearly, despite her immortality. They have many more years to live in the next few minutes, and the only thing standing between Varian and death is how long they’re able to bear it.

She takes a deep breath, offers him a small smile, and straightens her back.

“Hand me a few pieces of quartz and we’ll get started.”

* * *

Rapunzel jolted awake, heart pounding and a soundless scream already dying in her throat. Pascal let out a small noise of surprise as her sudden movement caused him to tumble. She glanced around, the lingering terror inciting paranoia until her mind was finally able to process that she was right where she’d been last night: in her sleeping sack, set up around the dying embers of last night’s fire. Kiera and Catalina had cuddled up to her over the course of the night, and both were disturbed by Rapunzel’s sudden awakening.

Catalina slurred out something incomprehensible, and Rapunzel shushed her.

“It’s okay, go back to sleep.”

Neither girl was apparently willing to argue, and Catalina dropped right off without so much as another sound. Kiera snuggled into her sleeping sack, but thankfully fell back asleep. Rapunzel took a deep breath of morning air and carefully shifted into a slightly more comfortable seated position. The world had already started to take on the gray hue of pre-dawn. Everything was quiet and still. Not even the birds had started singing yet.

The nightmare that had woken her was already obscured in her memory, just faint impressions of dread and terror and a blank, all consuming darkness. She’s suffered regular nightmares for nearly a year when she was little, and they’d been so severe that Mom had taken to lacing every scrap of fabric Rapunzel owned with dried lavender and slipping bits of amethyst carved with protective runes into her pillows. Which had done the trick, and over the next year and a half Mom had slowly removed the amethyst pieces and de-laced the lavender until Rapunzel could sleep through the night free of nightmares without magical assistance. Varian had been too young then help her, but she suspected that the reason her nightmares had made themselves scarce was because he was old enough and his magic strong enough to reach out while they slept.

Thinking of Varian brought back the memory of what she’d heard last night. Rapunzel shivered, though the chill of the early morning had nothing to do with it. The wagon was suspiciously still---and suspiciously dark. Not even one of the small lamps was lit, and Rapunzel couldn’t see any sign of Varian’s glow. Something horrid and leaden formed in her stomach; what if something went wrong? Mom had said binding someone’s magic was dangerous, maybe even life-threatening. What if Varian didn’t---

No. No, she wasn’t going to think like that. Varian was going to be fine. Whatever Mom and Dad had done last night, it was going to work and Varian was going recover. Everything was going to go back to normal and in time this whole thing will just be a bad memory.

A creak of wood caught her attention, and Rapunzel looked up to see her father stepping out of the wagon. He looked completely wrecked, as if he hadn’t slept a wink at all last night. Who knows, he probably hadn’t. Rapunzel stood up, mindful of her still-sleeping sisters.

“Dad,” she whispered, hesitant as she wrung her hands.

“He’s okay,” Dad replied, and it was a strange mix of dread and relief that washed over her. “The fever just broke, and both he and your mother are resting.”

She navigated out of the sleeping pile, steps becoming quicker the second she was clear of her sisters. “Did you have to…is he?”

Dad’s shoulders dropped as he took a deep breath. “We had to bind his magic, yes. He pulled through, thank god.”

“It’s not…permanent, is it?”

Dad hesitated, as if the answer was something he had to decide Rapunzel had a right to know.

“No binding is permanent, Rapunzel. But…they can be difficult to undo. And sometimes even more dangerous then.”

“So it might as well be?”

Dad sighed. “That’s not what I’m saying. Your mother and I plan to undo the binding once Varian is strong enough to handle it. The only sticking point is that we need a certain couple of tools to make sure the resulting surge of power doesn’t end up hurting him. The Moon’s never done things by halves.”

“What do you need?”

“Let your mother and I worry about that,” he advised, resting a hand on her shoulder and offering her a small smile that was meant to reassure. “For now, let’s focus on getting ready for the day. I doubt either Varian or Rowena will be awake for breakfast, but they may be hungry come lunch.”

“Da’,” a sleepy voice broke through the morning air. They turned to see Catalina and Kiera in the process of waking up, blinking and rubbing the sleep from their eyes.

“’s’som’in’wron’,” Kiera asked before a yawn split her face.

“Varian’s fever broke over the night,” Dad announced, and after a second, both girls were suddenly wide awake.

“Does that mean he’s gonna be okay,” Catalina asked, already jumping up from her sleeping sack and running over to them, Kiera hot on her heels.

“With some rest, yes.”

“Can we see him,” Kiera asked.

“When he wakes up, if your mother agrees,” he replied. “For now, let’s do her a favor and get the morning chores handled.”

Not even Kiera groaned at the idea of doing chores; ordinarily, she tended to do everything she possibly could to weasel her way out of them. Catalina didn’t seem to mind the work much, and Rapunzel honestly just loved any excuse to be active in some way. Varian was the only one who could convince Kiera to do her chores without complaining, and that was because he hated doing them, too. Any chores involving Philippa, the absolutely massive draft horse who had been pulling their wagon for as long as Rapunzel could remember, were his least favorite. Varian swore up and down the mare had it out for him, though Philippa had never done anything more than some teasing nips and a few well-timed swats to the face with her tail.

Rapunzel never thought she’d ever want to hear them complaining about scrubbing the wagon’s floorboards, or picking up the dungpiles left by Phillippa so Dad could sell them to farmers as fertilizer as badly as she did now. Anything resembling normal would be a blessing.

The fact that Varian’s fever had finally broken had drastically improved Catalina and Kiera’s attitude, even though they didn’t know about the binding. Throughout the morning, they chattered about pretty much anything and nothing at all, making stupid jokes and actually laughing again. And, true to his word,the sun was already high in the sky by the time the wagon’s door creaked open. Mom only looked marginally less wrecked than Dad had, though her usual bun was an absolute disaster the likes of which Rapunzel had never seen.

“Mom,” Kiera shouted, scrambling up to her feet from where she’d been sitting while helping Dad untangle a particularly knotted section of fishing line. “Is Varian awake? Can we see ‘im?”  


Rowena chuckled as Kiera all but slammed into her, managing to mitigated the worst of the collision. “Good morning to you, too, darling.”

“Dad said he’s gonna be okay, so can we see him?”

“He’s still asleep, cygnet,” Rowena replied. “Your poor brother had a rough go of things last night; he needs to rest.”

Kiera stamped a foot and huffed in frustration, but didn’t utter any more complaints. After the momentary frustration faded, Kiera bit her lip.

“He…he really is gonna be okay, right?”

Rowena sighed, a knowing smile on her face. “Yes, sweetheart. His fever’s broken, and his breathing is almost entirely back to normal.”

“Did you have to do that binding thing?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” she replied after a beat, guiding Kiera back to the campfire. “Took every ounce of quartz at my disposal, admittedly, but that was expected.”

“So Varian can’t do magic anymore,” Catalina asked.

“Not until we’re able to reverse the binding.”

“How long’s that gonna take?”

Rowena exhaled, sharing a look with Quirin. A look Rapunzel didn’t like one bit. Anytime that particular look came around, it always meant something bad. Or, at the very least, something they weren’t going to like much. The last time she’d seen that look, they spent three months in a magical museum/archive with a high-strung archivist who apparently owed Mom an awful lot while Mom and Dad had been busy negotiating a series of purchases and trades with people they apparently deemed too dangerous to risk bringing their kids along. Calliope had been an…interesting babysitter. And _maybe_ Rapunzel could have made the whole ordeal a little easier on her, but she’d been fourteen and _totally_ convinced that she didn’t need a babysitter.

“With some rest, Varian should be back to full health in a few weeks,” Rowena began, the ‘but’ heavy in her tone.

“But…?”

“But, in order to undo the binding without hurting him, your father and I are going to need a couple of items we don’t have right now.”

“So where do we find ‘em,” Kiera asked.

“ _We_ , as in your father and I, will be locating them,” Rowena replied. “You four will be staying with the innkeeper and his wife while we’re gone.”

“What?!”

“This is not a matter which is up for discussion,” she added, both her tone and her expression offering no room for debate. “These items are dangerous to get a hold of, and I refuse to place you four in harm’s way if there is another option.”

“But we wanna help,” Kiera retorted.

“You can help by staying together and keeping an eye on Varian,” Quirin cut in. “This will only take a few weeks, if all goes well.”

“And if it doesn’t,” Catalina asked. “You said it’ll be dangerous…”

Kiera slumped back into her seat, arms folded across her chest and the absolute picture of petulance. She’d been part of the family long enough to know when she’d been beat.

“Where will you guys be going, then,” Rapunzel asked.

The pair shared a look before Quirin replied.

“Rowena will be traveling to the Unknown, and I’ll be making the trek back to the ruins of Lumeria.”

“Wait, you’re not sticking together?”

Quirin shrugged. “Rowena is the only one who can reach the Unknown. I don’t have any Fae blood; the gates would never open for me.”

“And I’m sure Hector has yet to abandon the ruins,” Rowena added. “He might let Quirin explain before attacking; me, he’d fight immediately on principle.”

“Hector,” Catalina asked, tilting her head in confusion.

“Another former member of the Brotherhood,” Quirin explained. “We trained together when we were young.”

“How come we’ve never met ‘im,” Kiera asked.

“Because his vows to Lumeria were poorly worded, and as a result he’s been unable to tear himself away from the old kingdom,” Rowena replied. “There’s a reason I’ve always warned you four to be mindful of your words. Fae can’t break their promises.”

“Why would a friend of Dad’s fight you on principle,” Rapunzel asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Mom?”

The weak, but so very familiar, voice cut off any response Rowena might have otherwise given, and every head turned to see Varian, shaky but standing in the doorway of the wagon. Rapunzel inhaled sharply; while Varian certainly looked like he was on the mend from a serious illness, it was immediately obvious what exactly had to be done in order to get him there. His hair was no longer moon-white, the strands now a stark black save for the streak of teal that replaced the former moon-gray shade. He still looked pale and sickly, but he looked…more human? Like every trace of magic he’d had since birth had been systematically removed from every fibre of his body. He almost looked like a completely different person.

Catalina had reacted a bit louder, her gasp sharp and audible and followed by the sound of her hands covering her mouth in shock. Kiera’s reaction was even less subtle.

“Why is his hair black?”

“M’ hair’s wha’,” Varian asked, rubbing at his eyes.

Rowena helped him down from the wagon, and Varian leaned into her as she guided him over to the fire.

“A side-effect of the binding,” Quirin explained, grabbing a spare blanket from the laundry and draping it over Varian’s shoulders.

He took a seat next to his son, and Varian leaned into him, shivering under the blanket despite the growing heat of the day. Ruddiger perched himself next to Varian, offering sympathetic pats to the boy’s arm. Catalina got up from her seat and made her way across the circle, sitting down on the other side of her brother. She hesitantly placed a hand on his shoulder.

“How are you feeling, Varian?”

“Better,” he admitted. “A lot weaker than normal, though.”

“Your fever broke last night, thankfully,” Quirin added, pressing the back of his hand to Varian’s forehead as if he wasn’t entirely certain the fever hadn’t re-asserted itself. “But between the illness and the absence of your magic, I’m not surprised you’ve noticed some weakness. You should still be in bed.”

“I’ve been in bed for over a week, Dad,” he protested. “And isn’t fresh air supposed to help people get better?”

Quirin glanced over at his wife, who merely shrugged. He sighed.

“I expect you to listen to Uriah and Hermione while your mother and I are away. No sneaking out of bed, no matter how well you feel.”

Varian blinked, looking up at his father. “You and Mom are leaving? Why?”

“We need a few things to undo the binding once you’re well enough,” Rowena explained. “It will only take a few weeks at the most, by which time you should be recovered enough to handle it.”

“Oh. When are you leaving?”

“Either tomorrow or the day after, depending on how well you are to make to the trip to the inn.”

“Do we really need a babysitter,” he whined. “Can’t we just stay here and promise to listen to Rapunzel?”

Quirin chuckled. “It wouldn’t be fair to put all of the responsibility on your sister’s shoulders. Besides, you four will be safer at the inn than on your own. Bandits and highwaymen are becoming more active the warmer the weather gets. It’s for our own peace of mind as much as it is for your safety.”

“Then won’t you and Mom be in danger, too,” Kiera asked.

“Your father and I can handle ourselves,” Rowena assured her, taking a seat next to Kiera and giving her a small side hug.

“So can we!”

“Ordinarily I’d agree, but your brother needs to rest. Better safe than sorry.”

Kiera huffed, but didn’t issue any more protests. At least at the inn, they’d be more or less left to their own devices so long as they didn’t bother any of the patrons. It would be a few weeks of being bored out of their minds while their parents went on their epic quests. How bad could it really be?


End file.
